Safe and Compliant Guidance by a Powered Knee Exoskeleton for Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation of Gait

In the research field of robot-assisted gait rehabilitation there is increased focus on the improvement of physical human-robot interaction by means of high-performance actuator technologies and dedicated control strategies. In this context we propose a combination of lightweight, intrinsically comp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced robotics 2011-01, Vol.25 (5), p.513-535
Main Authors: Beyl, P., Knaepen, K., Duerinck, S., Van Damme, M., Vanderborght, B., Meeusen, R., Lefeber, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Exoskeletons
Gait
Knees
Multiple sclerosis
PHYSICAL HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION
PNEUMATIC MUSCLES
POWERED KNEE EXOSKELETON
PROXY-BASED SLIDING MODE CONTROL
Rehabilitation
ROBOT-ASSISTED GAIT REHABILITATION
Sliding mode control
Walking
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Summary:In the research field of robot-assisted gait rehabilitation there is increased focus on the improvement of physical human-robot interaction by means of high-performance actuator technologies and dedicated control strategies. In this context we propose a combination of lightweight, intrinsically compliant, high-torque actuators (pleated pneumatic artificial muscles) with safe and adaptable guidance along a target trajectory by means of proxy-based sliding mode control. We developed a powered knee exoskeleton (KNEXO) to evaluate these concepts. In addition to the trajectory-based controller a torque controller was implemented with a view to minimizing the interaction during unassisted walking. First, various treadmill walking experiments were performed with unimpaired subjects wearing KNEXO to evaluate the performance of the proposed controllers. Test results confirm the ability of KNEXO to display low actuator torques in unassisted mode and to provide safe, adaptable guidance in assisted mode. Subsequently, a multiple sclerosis patient participated in a series of pilot experiments. Provided there was some patient-specific controller tuning KNEXO was found to effectively support and compliantly guide the subject's knee.
ISSN:0169-1864
1568-5535
DOI:10.1163/016918611X558225